The Stranger Came (83 page)

Why had he parked the car so far away
?

Sitting
on
the
same
chair
in
Monty
Norman's
room,
she
held
to
the
hope
that
the
Irish
boy
was
in
the
kitchen.
He
would
have
the
television
on
very
loudly.
He
would
be singing
too
in
that
funny
growling
voice.
So
much
noise,
it
was
no
wonder
he
hadn't
heard
the
bell
ring.

'No
one,'
Maitland
said
coming
back.
'Are
you
all right?'

'Yes
.’

'He
should
have
been
here
by
now.
May
Stewart
promised
to
send
him
back
as
soon
as
he
came
in.
I'll
check
with
her.’

When
he
went
out
into
the
hall,
she
took
the
bottle
from
her
pocket.
It
lay
in
the
palm
of
her
hand
and
she
turned
it
over
with
her
finger.
A
little
clear
plastic
bottle
with
the
kind
of
cap
you
pushed
down
and
turned,
the
kind
hard
for
children
to
open
because
it
held
tablets
or
pills.
It
was
empty.

He
came
back
shaking
his
head.
'He
hasn't
come
into
the
office
this
morning.’

It
had
not
occurred
to
her
Maitland
might
wish
her
dead.

'Why
don't
you
lie
down?'
he
said.
'Having
come
this far,
it's
worth
waiting.’

'No
.’
If
she
lay
down
she
would
sleep
and
not
waken
again.
They
would
find
the
bottle
he
had
put
into
her
pocket
with
its
traces
of
whatever
he
had
given
her.
Verdict,
suicide.

'Maybe
Norman's
gone,'
Maitland
was
saying.
'Gone off
for
good.
I
should
have
told
you,
but
I
wanted
you
to
see
how
he
reacted
when
I
confronted
him.
Julian
Chambers
wrote
to
me
about
it.
Naturally
he
was
for
calling
in
the
police
at
once.
I
persuaded
him
to
let
me
deal
with
it.’

'With.
What?’
She
drew
up
each
word
separately
out
of herself.

He
settled
on
the
edge
of
the
bed,
unbuttoning
his
coat
one-handed
as
he
spoke.
The
heavy
cloth
slid
open
over
his
thighs.
'I
gave
him
authority
to
set
up
a
contingency
account.
A
mistake
as
it
turns
out.
He
was
contacting
firms
that
weren't
on
our
appeal
list.
Viv
Law
did
publicity
for
one
of
them.
She
wondered
about
it.
Mentioned
it
to May
Stewart,
who
told
Julian.
A
word
to
the
bank
manager
–
Julian
had
been
at
school
with
his
father
–
a
quite
unofficial
check
and
there
it
was.
Money
in,
money
out.
A
simple
clumsy
embezzlement.
As
a
stranger,
our
friend
didn't
realise
how
small
a
town
this
is
…
So
you
see
it
was
all
coming
apart.
Finishing
…
you
can
hardly
keep
your
eyes
open.
If
we
give
it
another
half-hour,
you
could
lie
here
and
rest
…
’

She
shook
her
head.
She
must
not
sleep.

'I
have
a
kind
of
notion
that
when
he
went
to
the
Trust
he
had
some
ambition
to
succeed
there,'
Maitland
said.
'It's
not
a
large
job,
of
course,
and
perhaps
at
first
he
imagined
it
was.
And
then,
the
truth
is
that
whatever
its
size
he
couldn't
really
do
it.
If
he
hadn't
realised
that
before,
I'd
guess
getting
a
tongue-lashing
from
Viv
Law
made
the
point
sufficiently.
Sitting
in
this
dreary
place
–
Are
you
warm
enough?
If
you
lay
down,
I
could
put
my
coat
over
you
…
It
wouldn't
be
impossible
to
feel
sorry
for
him.
No
one
to
talk
to.
He
must
have
felt
the
walls
closing
in.’

Me,
Lucy
thought,
he had me to talk to. He could talk to me about a girl and the sad horrible things he made her do. How he had shared her with friends and how it had all gone wrong for him. Like her a piece of meat, I wasn't going to tell anyone. How could he have known some part of me was awake and how carefully it listened?

She
wasn't
mad.
Even
dying
some
stubborn
part
of
her rejoiced
at
that.
She
had
seen
the
scarred
man
and
felt
his
hands
on
her
throat.

‘…
not
or
hell
that's
there
all
…
alright'
– she
sighed
and
was
still.

Maitland
got
up
and
went
behind
her
chair.
She
was
too
tired
to
turn
her
head.
He
laid
his
fingers
on
her
forehead,
their
tips
were
cold,
and
gently
massaged
her
temples
with
his
thumbs.
'Poor
darling,
is
it
very
bad?'
Her
body
recognised
the
familiar
comfort
of
his
voice.
It
would
be
easy
to
give
in
and
sleep.
'Even
turning
up
for
regular
office
hours
was
beyond
him.
The
rewards
of
being honest
come
in
small
increments.
They're
real
enough,
but
you
need
to
be
brought
up
to
have
a
taste
for
them.
They
were
a
little
subtle
for
his
palate.
All
the
same,
just
at
first
for
him
I
suspect
the
words
Gregory
and
Rintoul
Trust
had
a
ring
to
them.
He
stepped
into
it
so
easily
…no
effort
required
…
all
in
one
step
like
a
daydream
…
that
would
suit
nicely
…
The
dreamer
in
the
dosshouse.’